Country Strong

Theatrical Release Date: 2010 12 22 (USA - Limited) / 2011 01 07 (USA - Expanding)

UPC: 043396374461

Studio: Sony Pictures

MPAA Rating: PG13   Contains:[Adult Situations, Substance Abuse, Sexual Situations]

Summary: A fallen country star (Gwyneth Paltrow) strives to resurrect her ailing career with a little help from her supportive husband (Tim McGraw), an ambitious young songwriter (Garrett Hedlund), and an emerging country artist (Leighton Meester) with a rapidly growing fan base. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Original Song – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Original Song – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Original Song – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Original Song – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Original Song – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Song – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Song – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Features: Original ending
Deleted scenes
"Shake That Thing" extended performance with Gwyneth Paltrow
"Country Strong" music video featuring Gwyneth Paltrow
"A Little Bit Stronger" music video by Sara Evans

Country Strong

Format: DVD

Release Date: 04/12/2011

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 2.40:1

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 117 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Country Strong
1. Chapter 1 [9:46]
2. Chapter 2 [8:03]
3. Chapter 3 [4:53]
4. Chapter 4 [7:11]
5. Chapter 5 [6:43]
6. Chapter 6 [5:26]
7. Chapter 7 [7:00]
8. Chapter 8 [6:59]
9. Chapter 9 [5:28]
10. Chapter 10 [4:19]
11. Chapter 11 [4:36]
12. Chapter 12 [5:15]
13. Chapter 13 [5:34]
14. Chapter 14 [5:56]
15. Chapter 15 [7:56]
16. Chapter 16 [8:29]

Perry Seibert

Like rock fans, country music fans respond to authenticity -- even if it's totally faked. When Country Strong, the sophomore effort of writer/director Shana Feste, stays inside a crumbling but not yet dead marriage, it feels like the real deal. Sadly, its clich?d ending feels like the paint-by-numbers conclusion that it is. The movie opens with country superstar Kelly Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow) being pulled out of rehab by her husband/manager, James (Tim McGraw). He wants to get her back on tour so she can rebuild her tabloid train-wreck public image. She demands they bring along Beau Hutton (Garrett Hedlund), a worker at the rehab center who is both a talented local singer/songwriter and Kelly's secret lover. James initially resists, but gives in when he sees Beau calm the stage nerves of Chiles Stanton (Leighton Meester), another local singer whom James wants to bring on the tour. As this foursome fall in and out of love, and in and out of each other's beds, Kelly falls deeper and deeper into alcoholism, even though James has planned a comeback show in Dallas -- one year to the day after a spectacular meltdown during a concert where the five-months-pregnant celeb fell ten feet from the stage in a drunken stupor. At its best, Country Strong gives us a look inside a marriage struggling through problems -- guilt, grief, and blame -- exacerbated by celebrity and wealth. Paltrow and McGraw are quite good. The Canters' relationship isn't black-and-white; they are both complex people full of love and disgust for each other and themselves. The moments the two share -- and they run the gamut from physical altercations to loving pillow talk -- do feel like the genuine result of a life lived together through some intense highs and lows. Kelly's addiction controls her, but not completely. She's self-destructive, to be sure, yet she's bright enough to see that it's happening, and to feel sorry for the others around her. Paltrow gets across this tragic quality with finesse, even when the script hammers the point home. For his part, Tim McGraw gives a smartly nuanced performance -- there's a ton going on inside James, but he's been playing the part of the placating manager for so long he can't quite stop, because it's more comfortable than being a husband to such a troubled woman. If the movie had focused primarily on the two of them, it would pack a much stronger punch, but instead we spend just as much time with Beau and Chiles. Hedlund, wearing scruffy facial hair throughout, looks like a cross between Brad Pitt and Dax Shepard. He's blandly appealing, like most new-country hat acts, which is unfortunate since the film wants us to believe he's the second coming of Townes Van Zandt. Meester actually does a fine job with what amounts to a classic ingenue role -- her scheming is endearingly inept. Their innocence-lost story arcs just aren't nearly as fascinating or complex as the other relationship in the movie. Many classic country songs are emotionally direct, and tackle messy feelings without necessarily resolving them. Many new-country songs are glossy, feel-good pop tunes that are instantly forgettable. Country Strong manages to start as the former, but ends as the latter. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Jenno Topping  Producer 
Meredith Zamsky  Executive Producer 
Tobey Maguire  Producer 
Michael Brook  Composer (Music Score) 
Shana Feste  Director 
Shana Feste  Screenwriter 
Gwyneth Paltrow  Actor 
Tim McGraw  Actor 
Garrett Hedlund  Actor 
Leighton Meester  Actor 
Marshall Chapman  Actor 
Lari White  Actor 
Jeremy Childs  Actor 
JD Parker  Actor 
Lisa Stewart Seals  Actor 
Jackie Welch  Actor 
Cinda McCain  Actor 
Gabe Sipos  Actor 
Sandra Harris  Actor 
Megan Henderson  Actor 
Danny Beene  Actor 
Reegus Flenory  Actor 
Terri Minton  Actor 
Ed Bruce  Actor 
Darrin Dickerson  Actor 
Alana Grace  Actor 
Katie Groshong  Actor 
Candace Michelle Coffee  Actor 
Katie Cook  Actor 
Adam Skaggs  Actor 
Travis Nicholson  Actor 
Denita Odigie  Actor 
Jeffrey Buckner Ford  Actor 
Jeri Sager  Actor 
Kirt Lahew  Actor 
Ranjit Bhullar  Actor 
Tina White  Actor 
Brett Warren  Actor 
Olivia Haley  Actor 
Jim Melton  Actor 
Holly Watson  Actor 
Brad Schmitt  Actor 
Cory Younts  Actor 
Skylar Wilson  Actor 
Josh Graham  Actor 
Chris Scruggs  Actor 
Loney Hutchins  Actor 
Ian Fitchuk  Actor 
Bucky Baxter  Actor 
John Bohlinger  Actor 
Neal Casal  Actor 
Chris Clark  Actor 
Jim Lauderdale  Actor 
Doug Frasure  Actor 
Amanda Shires  Actor 
John Deaderick  Actor 
Johnny Gates  Actor 
Jamie Jarbeau  Actor 
Matt Scanlon  Actor 
Michael Ollin Lotten  Actor 
Smith Curry  Actor 
Kristen Wilkinson  Actor 
David Angeli  Actor 
Gregory Martin  Actor 
Sara Reist  Actor 
James Hamlet  Actor 
Steve Hinson  Actor 
Fred Eltringham  Actor 
Gary Nicholson  Actor 
Beau Stapleton  Actor 
Danny Flowers  Actor 
Nancy Amons  Actor 
Jim Taylor  Actor 
Jonathan Martin  Actor 
Katrina Hagger Smith  Actor 
Nick Beres  Actor 
Kelly Sutton  Actor 
Shane Tallant  Actor 
Christine Maddela  Actor 
Stephanie Langston  Actor 

Country: USA